Ideapad Yoga?

oooo, makes me want to try and put that in my U300s !! Thanks for the find.

 

Better be sure the 256GB model ships with one drive and not two 128's. The Lenovo sales chat dude wasn't aware that the Yoga 13 supports two drives.

 

Mine's going back to Best Buy. After it's been on for about an hour, the screen will suddenly rotate 90 degrees, and then the automatic rotation will no longer work. Plus at that point the keyboard/touchpad stop responding periodically until I suspend/resume the system.

I have to assume there's a marginal hardware component in the one I got that fails after it heats up a bit. Or some service is crashing. Either way, a full restore didn't fix it.

Makes me sad. I really like the Yoga, but BB has no replacements in stock, so I'm going to just wait a little while to see if they get some of these bugs ironed out. And then I can compare it to the Asus Transformer Book 13 as well.

 

So i just exchanged mine. The paint started peeling on the back hing. I got a second one but i am nervious it will do the same thing. Is this problem wide spread or just a few defects?

Also when is the x1 carbon supposed to come out

 

X1 C touch seems to have a TN display rather than an IPS one.

 

This is one issue because of which I'm hesitant to continue testing the yoga. If paint starts coming off, return/exchange could become a hassle.

Shiftster: Where did you buy yours? Did you have any trouble with the exchange?

 

I got the first one online from Best Buy for business and then I just returned in the store with no problem.

I didn't have a single problem with my first Yoga until the paint started to go. But this new one has that bounce/noise in the keyboard. I'm sure I could fix the keyboard but I spent a lot of $ on this thing with the ram and new mSATA ,which thankfully I hadn't added yet, to have the paint peel and look like crap in six months. The problem is I don't really see anything out there that I like better right now and I sold my old laptop when I got this one, so now I'm stuck.

I am sad to say that I think my new plan is to take advantage of my silver membership's 90 day return policy and hold onto this thing till the X1 touch comes out. I really really like the Yoga but I would be a fool to stick with it after two bad ones in a row. I had a lot of fun with the tablet features and I am sure they will have a better version next year with all the bugs worked out but I just can wait that long.

 

As I said I would be earlier in this thread, I am definitely excited about the prospect of an X1 Carbon. A non-IPS matte screen, as with the original X1C, is fine with me, and probably preferable. This IPS is beautiful of course but I hate the glare - it absolutely drives me insane. That said, I'm not sure a touchscreen display can be done satisfactorily without a glass screen and therefore IPS would seem logical at that point, so I question the rumors.

I might miss the convertability of the Yoga, but probably not THAT much. The touch-screen keyboard on the Yoga isn't integrated well enough for stand mode to be as convenient as I would have liked (while sitting on the train for instance). Decisions, decisions.

 

I upgraded my Yoga today with 8GB of RAM and added a 256GB SSD to make a total of 384GB!

Everything went pretty smoothly. I followed the instructions on the Lenovo hardware manual and used some of the tips on this forum as well as others.

The RAM was pretty east to upgrade. The only thing scary is bending the keyboard back while prying up the double stick tape. If you take your time it's no problem. Make sure you use something thin and plastic to pry up the corner. Put the screen all the way back until it's against the table or put it in tablet mode and put something underneath to protect the glass. There is little latches along the top that you need to pull the keyboard past. Once you do that you have to lift the keyboard up slowly pry up the double stick tape. Pull up and toward the screen. The latches on the RAM are simple to handle. Just replace the RAM and put the latches back on.

Upgrading the SSD takes a little more patience. A T5 star shaped screw driver was fine for taking the screws off the back and a very small Phillips for the rest (one of the tiny ones that you can spin with your finger tips).

There are 3 cables you need to take off:
There is a tiny cable next to the fan on the right side. This one is simple, just flip up the white tab and pull on the flap connected to the ribbon cable.
The large ribbon cable under the RAM has the same kind of tab as the above connector, just flip it up with a small flat head and gently pull the cable back.
The third cable is not a ribbon cable, it's a plug that you need to pull back, which is kind of tricky due to the small space. I wiggled the connector with a small flat head screw driver by applying small pressure on each side back and forth until it loosened up. Make sure you are detaching the correct connector because there are a total of 4 cables under the RAM. The one you want is the one way on the left with a right angle cable connected to it

After you have the connectors off you need to lift up the bezel. This is similar to lifting the keyboard up since there are tabs locking in the bezel on the edges. Just slowllift the bezel up going along the edges. After you lift up the bezel you will see an empty slot where you will put the second SSD card. Just insert the drive and screw it down. I bought some M2x3 screws for like $6.00. I heard some people getting it from their old laptops. You could also find one inside the Yoga that is not needed.

Putting everything back together was not too bad, but you have to take your time putting the cables back in. I had to use my flat head screw driver to help push the cable in the correct position to slide the ribbon cables in. To put the keyboard ribbon cable on place the keyboard upside down on the laptop then put the cable in.

Before putting your keyboard on locate the little metal latches that need to go on, make sure those 4 latches line up with the 4 holes on the bezel before sliding the keyboard on. After you got those in place snap the keyboard back on.

One last thing, before your SSD drive shows up you need to reformat it. To do this go to Run (Windows key + R) and launch diskmgmt.msc
Then right click on the 256GB drive and select format (forget what it said exactly).

I actually have photos of the inside and all connectors, but they are too big to upload. If you want them let me know.

Hope that helps!

 

Great writeup, thanks rkurata. I'd love to see the photos. Maybe you could resize them and post in this thread? I know others would love to see as well. Or upload to tinypic or elsewhere and share the link. Thanks again!

 

I second that. As someone who is thinking about upgrading to a second ssd, I want to make sure that nothing goes wrong, and some things just need pictures!

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9y8aeo0b42teqod/v59UIG2wTZ

The upper right of the main picture is the 2nd ssd slot. I didn't take pictures of the entire disassembly however.

A couple tips.
1) For the ribbon connectors, just lift the thin plastic part straight up and then slide the ribbon out.
2) For the keyboard, lift the front edge and then slide the keyboard horizontally towards the screen.
3) For the shell (after removing all screws): Start on the edge with the touch pad and start prying apart then work your way around the edges with your fingers.

 

Check out this thread on the official Lenovo forum for some more pics - the Lenovo employee who posted the picture says he is working on a SSD/RAM upgrade guide with pictures. On a side note DC power socket looks to be modular ie not soldered to the motherboard so should be easy to replace.

 

Here are some pictures I took while upgrading the RAM and SSD:
View attachment 87697

 

Here are a few more, they only allow 6 per post:

 

Here's a Hotfix from Lenovo to fix the partitioning scheme on the SSD: Hotfix for Windows 8 (64-bit) - IdeaPad Yoga 13

 

That's pretty huge! DanielNTX, awesome find, thank you.

Has anyone tried it yet? I'd love to have confirmation before running a 109k exe that messes with partitions (awfully small right?). What do you all think?

 

Tried it. Works well.

 

Wow, my mind is blown how easy and quick that was. Re-partitioned and no reboot or anything?! Pretty awesome, good work Lenovo.

 

You can't restore from an SD card unless you use a USB card reader - it isn't recognized in the slot.

 

Nice. This is how the device should have been factory configured for consumers in the first place. This is why I like Lenovo though, because they responded to the community. Props!

 

hope we get 5Ghz Wifi soon ... i can't bare this stupid wifi builtin.. takes soo long when i want to transfer files from home server.

 

Interested in hearing from owners about the paint chipping issue. Are you getting paint chipping on your unit, and how long have you had it? We've seen a bunch of reports of people having the issue, so it would be useful to know if this a common problem or only in some units.

Edit: I've had the unit for a week and haven't had any chipping yet. That said, I've been very careful with it. However, the bottom has started looking a little "old".. the silver paint doesn't seem as uniform. Wiping it down would probably make it look new again. The silver paint makes it look decidedly non-premium IMO.

 

Has anyone had any issues with windows updates failing? and if so how did you fix it? I bean having problems for a couple weeks. I cant seam to find a fix posted anywhere even tough it sounds like a lot of people have been having the same problem.

 

Follow the advice here.

 

I've had mine about three weeks... just now starting to notice paint chipping. I'm really bummed, hoped it was not epidemic. On mine it's the extreme lower right corner, next to where the power connector is. I noticed it after I started using a neoprene sleeve. Under the chipping is grey plastic, very cheap looking.

 

Could you provide a photo of it? Do you have a silver or orange one?

Wysyane z mojego Nexus 7 za pomoc Tapatalk 2

 

I am under the impression there aren't any orange units available yet. I'd really like one, might swap mine out if they become available in the next month or so.

 

In my country preorders just started and we have only orange I am a bit concerned about this issues with paint and fan, especially with fan.

 

In the US only the "silver grey" is available. Rumor said that Orange would be by "late November", but so far no showings.

@kamilin, what country are you in that sells the orange?

Back to the paint chipping, it's not extremely obvious, but my worry is that this is only after 3 weeks. What will it look like in 6 months? Here are some pics:

 

As for the scratches, I've thought about returning it for replacement, but I've heard others with wifi problems and louder and/or grinding fans... my wifi works great and the fans are quiet... I can deal with paint chipping, but could not deal with those problems. Still though, the Yoga is no where near the premium laptop that my U300s is.

 

hey guys,

I got sick of waiting and took matters into my own hands to fix the fan noise.

I disassembled the machine and discerned the root of the problem, and proceeded to fix it. My Yoga is purring like a kitten, now

As you might have suspected, the issue was one of the fans hitting its housing.

I posted photos and details on my blog here.

 

Just picked up a new Yoga 13 from Best Buy yesterday, and so far I love it. I ran the hotfix to fix the wonky partitions linked a few pages ago, which was what I came looking for information on originally, so yay. I haven't gone through the entire thread, but is there a way to mess with the F keys? They've been turned into Fn options on this keyboard, which I could probably adapt to if it weren't for F4 closing applications, and F6 disabling the track pad. I use F5 all the time to refresh pages and applications, and on my last laptop if I missed it, F4 wouldn't do anything unless I was also pressing Alt or Ctrl, and F6 just occasionally highlighted something. Now I'm closing applications and turning off my trackpad all the time. I would much rather have the F keys be standard, and the alternative function be the Fn key. Is there some way I can do that?

 

There's a setting in the BIOS that should do what you want. Just shut down and then push the little depressed button next to the power button until you enter the BIOS menu.

 

\o/

That worked, thank you.

 

Have the versions with 256 gb ssd and i7 started appearing at Best Buy? And are the only issues wifi and fan noise?

 

I've had no issues with wifi - can't say the same for fan noise though Hopefully Lenovo will acknowledge and fix the problem soon.

 

No wifi issues or paint chips here, fan is always on and audible but not buzzing. I expect a fix for the fan from Lenovo, then I will be pleased with this device. I would love a lit keyboard, baffled why they left it out. I suppose I can always use the virtual keyboard in dark areas.

 

I find the lettering on the keys to be very reflective so they're pretty easy to read with just the light from the screen. A back lit keyboard would have been nice though....

 

I notice that the CapsLK key has an LED. Seems to me that there is light power to the keyboard, based on that. The switching for the Cap lock function is probably bios based. If that is true, then a bios update and new backlit key board would rock my world!

 

We need to find out if there is another Ideapad with backlit keyboard that might be compatible. I saw the Ideapad z500 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/08/dsc08506.jpg and almost thought it would work, but it has the numberpad on the right. There may be other models that are similar though.

 

Best Buy had four models listed for awhile, always showing "Sold out online" including a max'd out version. With the help of posts here and on the Lenovo Forum I was able to upgrade the basic $999 BB model to 8GB memory and added a 256GB SSD both from Crucial in addition to fixing the disk partitioning issue with Lenovo's Hotfix. All in all cheaper and faster than waiting for the availability of the larger models. Lenovo has also posted their position on customer upgrades relative to warranty impact (which was positive).

 

Just installed my 128gb SSD and 8gb RAM! Feels like I have a new laptop! I took a few pics, but nothing you guys haven't seen already. I though about doing a video, but wasn't confident enough in my skills to make that experience public. That said, it was a lot easier than I imagined. I've taken apart and rebuilt many normal laptops, but never one like this.

Special thanks to whom ever it was earlier in this thread that warned about the power connector (woolooloo?) being fragile and be careful; use something to push the connector away, rather than pull it out of the plug. Also, the keyboard connector release was a little hard to flip up, did it very carefully over 60 seconds or so.

So, for those thinking about the upgrade but nervous, do it! Just take your time and be careful.

 

Thanks for the link. I was thinking about doing it myself following instufctions on the Lenovo forum, but this was a lot less risky and much easier.

Now I have 100GB on C, along with 256GB on my D, and 8GB or RAM.

I'm thinking of moving the drivers to the D drive so that if I need to do 1 key recovery I won't need to have it backed up on a memory stick.

Does anyone know if a simple copy using windows explorer is good enough to copy the drivers directory over or do you need to go into DOS and use xcopy or robopy?

 

Simple copy should be fine. Its just a bunch of directories with setup files AFAICT.

 

Someone was looking for SDXC card transfer speeds a few pages back. Well I got myself a SanDisk 128GB Extreme HD Video SDHC Card

View attachment 87829

and a Betron USB 3.0 Single Slot SD, SDHC, SDXC Card Reader / Writer

View attachment 87830

I transferred 10.9 gb MKV file

Via the Yoga's SD card reader slot about 20 MB/S:



and via my USB 3.0 card reader about 43 MB/S:

 

A new touchpad driver was in a windows update today. I haven't had a chance to test it yet and I am not to familiar with all the windows 8 touchpad features.

On another note I have been looking around and I am not really seeing anything I like more then the Yoga even with all its faults. I think I am going to talk to Lenovo tomorrow and see if the one year warranty covers the paint. If not then I will get the accidental coverage from BB and trade it in after Lenovo fixes the problem.

 

^ Yes that has been my primary motivation for hanging on to the yoga. 12-14" with a touchscreen and high-ish screen resolution, with 8gb ram/128gb ssd (soldered or upgradeable). I'm surprised there are no solid contenders to the yoga for these basic features.

Please let us know if you hear something about the paint being covered by lenovo warranty. Also, would BB's warranty cover chipping paint? I would think they'd classify it under normal wear and tear and probably not cover it.

Edit: BestBuy Canada excludes it in their Product Replacement Plan (minor imperfections in units that meet design specifications or cosmetic imperfections that do not alter functionality). I believe the geek squad protection for BestBuy US is a lot more comprehensive.

 

Back from my travels where I took my BB Yoga along with me. At this point, even though the keyboard is only serviceable, I don't think I could go without the 360 hinge. The Yoga with Win 8 is just so versatile; I use tablet, presentation, and tent mode alot. Leaning towards swapping my Yoga out in hopes the next one won't have as much screen bleed instead of doing a return.

 

I'm going to replace the 128 GB ssd with a 240/256gb SSD, has anybody done so while cloning the original SSD and maintaining the required UEFI partitions and maintaining SecureBoot status? What cloning software did you use and did it maintain the same GPT partition guids and SecureBoot? Then I'll move the 128gb into the second port and reformat.